Eternal Space

Shasha Gaba believes in less is more as she offers you her organza sari, yes, with an awesome drape minus the fluff!

By Asmita Aggarwal

Sometimes some things are meant to happen and no force in the universe can change that. Shasha Gaba, realised that quite early on in her life when she met her then boyfriend and now husband, Himanshu, who paved the path for her entry into the world of fashion, by helping her get the first internship.

A relationship ensued which prompted her to join NIFT (Delhi) and then launch her own label, in 2014. Himanshu is a buying agent for many stores across UK and Europe, who goaded his wife to do what she was interested in—nuanced design.

Shasha, a first timer has two lines under her label, one solely ethnic (lehengas and saris) and the other evening wear with cocktail dresses and gowns. “Both are quite different and when I see a garment, I look at it from the eyes of a wearer. It must be tonal, understated and elegant, three pre-requisites of design for me,” she adds.

Her businessman father, who is into the dry fruits trade, didn’t very much understand fashion but was always supportive of the choice his daughter made. “I used to pick up fabrics from different places and make something for myself. I admire Valentino and liked it when both Maria Grazia Chiuri (now Dior) and Pierpaolo Piccioli designed for the label. Their straight-forward cuts and colour palette along with easy pastels redefining the concept of femininity made me a fan. I have also admired Yohji Yamamoto and his unpredictability in design and the fact that no one could imagine that a dress could turn out like this, in his overpowering hue of his choice—black,” she says.

A first -timer at AIFW SS’18, her line ‘Swarn Upvan’ or the golden garden, has been executed using artwork and enhanced with embroidery. There is a theme to every dress and it is done using just two techniques—dabkaand beads (moti) creating birds, flowers and geometric architecture found in Mughal gardens. “The colour story had to match—so there are ecru, lavender, nudes and peach, along with watery greys in silk, Chanderi, georgettes and organza, which have a sheer, but translucent quality. People used to prefer not wearing organza as it tends to fluff up, but I found a way to smooth that problem out. I keep the heavier embroidery on the bottom and lighter on top to give it a balance, in turn offering a beautiful drape,” she explains.

All the necks of the blouses are zero, so no deep and V-necks, just plain play on long jacket style blouses, for her ethnic line. Though she has also included crop tops, knee-length summer dresses and camisoles with pants. “My ideology has always been less embroidery but more focus on its ingenious placement. Sometimes less speaks more. It is what I learnt from studying architecture and landscapes, I would have been an architect if it wasn’t fashion,” she concludes.